Washing machine appliances can use a variety of fluid additives (in addition to water) to assist with washing and rinsing a load of articles. For example, detergents and/or stain removers may be added during wash and prewash cycles of washing machine appliances. As another example, fabric softeners may be added during rinse cycles of washing machine appliances.
Fluid additives are preferably introduced at an appropriate time during the operation of washing machine appliance and in a proper volume. By way of example, adding insufficient volumes of either the detergent or the fabric softener to the laundry load can negatively affect washing machine appliance operations by diminishing efficacy of a cleaning operation. Similarly, adding excessive volumes of either the detergent or the fabric softener can also negatively affect washing machine appliance operations by diminishing efficacy of a cleaning operation.
For instance, when too much detergent is added during a wash cycle, detergent can remain in articles after a rinse cycle because the rinse cycle may not be able to remove all of the detergent from the articles. Unremoved detergent can cause graying within such articles as the detergent builds up over time, can contribute to a roughness feeling of such articles, and can trigger skin allergies. The unremoved detergent can also negatively affect the efficacy of fabric softener during the rinse cycle. Further, unremoved detergent can also cause excess suds that can damage the washing machine and/or decrease a spin speed of the washing machine appliance's drum thereby causing articles therein to retain excessive liquids.
As a convenience to the consumer, certain washing machine appliances include systems for automatically dispensing detergent and/or fabric softener. Such systems can store one or more fluid additives in a bulk tank and dispense such fluid additives during operation of the washing machine appliances. Some such systems include a pump for drawings the additive(s) from the bulk tank and dispensing them into a wash tub and/or wash basket of the washing machine appliance. However, it can be difficult to precisely control the flow of additive(s) from the bulk tank when using such pumps. For example, gravitational head may cause flow from the bulk tank to continue even after the motive fluid has stopped flowing through the pump.
Accordingly, a washing machine appliance with features for improved control over the amount and duration of additive flow from the bulk tank would be useful.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present subject matter provides a washing machine appliance. The washing machine appliance includes a bulk dispense system including an aspirator or a Venturi pump. Additional aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be apparent from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In a first exemplary embodiment, a washing machine appliance is provided. The washing machine appliance includes a cabinet having a top panel, the top panel defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction and a transverse direction that are mutually perpendicular to one another, the top panel defining an opening. The washing machine appliance also includes a basket rotatably mounted within the cabinet below the top panel, a reservoir positioned below the top panel, the reservoir comprising an inlet, an outlet, and an additive storage volume, the additive storage volume positioned between the inlet and the outlet of the reservoir, the inlet of the reservoir positioned at the opening of the top panel, and a dispensing assembly mounted to the top panel, the dispensing assembly comprising a supply conduit and an aspirator, the supply conduit extending between the reservoir and the aspirator, the aspirator having a water inlet, an additive inlet, and an outlet, the outlet of the aspirator positioned above the fluid storage volume of the reservoir.
In a second exemplary embodiment, an aspirator for a washing machine appliance is provided. The aspirator defining a vertical direction, a lateral direction and a transverse direction that are mutually perpendicular to one another. The aspirator includes a water inlet conduit, an additive inlet conduit, and an outlet conduit, wherein the outlet conduit is generally orthogonal to the water inlet conduit in a plane defined by the lateral and transverse directions, and the outlet conduit is offset from the water inlet conduit along the vertical direction.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.